The people with visual impairments in Bulgaria are also engaged in sports, provided they have the necessary conditions. 2018 will remain in the history of Bulgarian sport with the fact that this country hosted for the first time the World Chess Championship for Blind and Visually Impaired. The foreign participants were impressed with the perfect organization at the chess championship.

In 2018 Bulgarian athletes participated for the first time at the Showdown European Championships in Poland hoping they would have the opportunity to attend the 2019 Showdown World Championships. Showdown is a sport for the blind and visually impaired which could be described as the blind’s community answer to air hockey or table tennis. The only equipment needed is a specially-designed table, two paddles, a special ball into which BBs are inserted to make it audible.

The Chairman of the Bulgarian Sports Federation for the Visually Impaired Dr Ivan Yanev told Radio Bulgaria that in 2018 the list of sports accessible for Bulgarians with visual impairments has been extended.

The Bulgarian Sports Federation for the Visually Impaired develops chess, showdown and goalball (the only team Paralympic sport for people with visual impairments), visually-impaired archery, backgammon and sport fishing. In 2018 we have restored the national tandem cycling championships which was very popular in the past. Over 50 people joined this competition and I hope that the future of this sport looks bright, Ivan Yanev went on to say.

However, the people with visual impairments face a series of difficulties such as the lack of a suitable sports base, Ivan Yanev points out and adds:

A total of 32 Bulgarian clubs are members of our organization. Many of them use municipal properties and are very grateful for that. The municipal properties are transformed mainly into showdown and chess rooms. However, the deficit of facilities for sports requiring a larger sports base is big.

According to the new Persons with Disabilities Act, these people must have access to state-owned sports facilities. The Bulgarian Sports Federation for the Visually Impaired voiced hopes that the requirement will be applied in practice. The old act also had similar regulation, but it was rarely applied in practice, the Chairman of Bulgarian Sports Federation for the Visually Impaired Ivan Yanev specifies. We are facing another problem due to the lack of adequate sports policy for this category of Bulgarian citizens - we are unable to fill in the teams of with young visually impaired people, Mr Yanev said and added: 

All children with visual impairments join the secondary schools since the start of the so-called educational integration. The children are often absent from the physical education classes. They do not know a lot about us and we do not know many of them. We are planning to look for such children and make them part of our sport clubs, but for the purpose we must receive a strong support from the state authorities. Sports help people acquire movement culture and qualities such as concentration and the will to develop and progress. We are planning to send a letter to the Bulgarian ministers of sports and education to ask for their support.

The Bulgarian Sports Federation for the Visually Impaired has to work a lot to persuade the parents of the visually-impaired children as well as the children themselves that sport is useful for their future development.

The parental factor is very important is our job. Many parents of children with disabilities are overprotecting their kids. These parents believe that if children are disabled they cannot be engaged in sports, because they may suffer injuries.

The Bulgarian Sports Federation for the Visually Impaired has many fresh ideas. For instance, it is planning to reach an agreement with IBSA (The International Blind Sports Federation) for training coaches and referees for visually impaired footballers. Football for visually impaired is a Paralympic sport which is strongly supported by FIFA and UEFA. I would like to see football for visually impaired develop in this country, because our Balkan neighbors have strong traditions in this sport discipline, Ivan Yanev said.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov